MacNiels
Member
Hello all!
After being an (inactive) member for quite some time, I recently picked up collecting again. Time for my first real post!
I received a Quadra 840av last week. It was a bit of a gamble, as it was untested according to the seller. The only thing he knew was that it chimed. The photos showed some rust down the bottom vent holes, so worst case scenario could be a battery explosion. I had no idea what to expect, but the price was interesting enough to take the risk.
Here it arrived, in a box without any foam. Oh my! The only protection was a piece of cloth… Given the brittle plastics of these machines, I feared the worst.
Deep breath.. time to open the box and see if it's in one piece:
Surprise: no damage at all. I could not believe my eyes. No cracked bezels, no CD ROM bezel that fel off. Phew!
Even the power button was intact. Respect to the Dutch mail workers (and a LOT of luck)!
It was quite yellowed and dirty, but otherwise the machine looked pretty much stock, even the NUBUS slot covers were still on.
Do you guys know if this form factor has a nickname? I know we have the "outrigger" (7xxx/G3), curious about this one.
Time to open the machine, before even attempting to power it.
Yup, the bottom plate was completely rusted. Further inspection confirmed my thoughts, the battery had indeed leaked. It had been taken out already.
Miraculously, the logic board looked clean. Very little corrosion, no cap leakage either. The only corroded area is where the battery acid seeped down. Thankfully, the Q840av 's battery location is somewhat good, right at the bottom, so very few components are in its way.
Only the area around G7, RP62 and L32 looked affected, right in the path where the battery acid ran down.
Do you guys know what the function of these chips are? G7 appears to be a clock oscillator.
Ok, time to power it on…
A loud chime, that’s a good sign! Followed by a blinking question mark. Appears the stock 500 MB Seagate harddisk (Apple branded) was dead. Let’s see if the CD drive works. It did! It booted right up from a MacOS 8 CD. The UI seemed to feel a little more snappy than my Q650. Would that 7 Mhz really be that noticeable? The only 040s I've owned were 33 Mhz ones, which feel snappy with MacOS 7.6, but a bit sluggish on 8.1. I’m curious how it performs once the machine has been restored and set up. “About this computer” revealed a whopping 16 MB of RAM, although VRAM has been maxed out. Since all the NUBUS slot covers were present, I assume this Mac was totally stock.
My plan is to restore this Mac to its former glory, which is already in progress. Things I've done so far:
- A full teardown
- Clean the logic board, the case and the battery gunk and the rust
- Make a new bottom RF shield
- Ordered a new PRAM battery holder.
Future plans are:
- Replace HD and add extra RAM
- A recap (while the Mac is working now, I assume it's just a matter of time)
- Maybe a retrobright. Not decided yet. Since the machine is pretty much stock and doesn't have any personal stickers etc, I might as well go for it. Had good results restoring a G3 MT and an SE/30.
If people are interested, I can make a report about the restoration progress.
Regards,
Niels
After being an (inactive) member for quite some time, I recently picked up collecting again. Time for my first real post!
I received a Quadra 840av last week. It was a bit of a gamble, as it was untested according to the seller. The only thing he knew was that it chimed. The photos showed some rust down the bottom vent holes, so worst case scenario could be a battery explosion. I had no idea what to expect, but the price was interesting enough to take the risk.
Here it arrived, in a box without any foam. Oh my! The only protection was a piece of cloth… Given the brittle plastics of these machines, I feared the worst.
Deep breath.. time to open the box and see if it's in one piece:
Surprise: no damage at all. I could not believe my eyes. No cracked bezels, no CD ROM bezel that fel off. Phew!
Even the power button was intact. Respect to the Dutch mail workers (and a LOT of luck)!
It was quite yellowed and dirty, but otherwise the machine looked pretty much stock, even the NUBUS slot covers were still on.
Do you guys know if this form factor has a nickname? I know we have the "outrigger" (7xxx/G3), curious about this one.
Time to open the machine, before even attempting to power it.
Yup, the bottom plate was completely rusted. Further inspection confirmed my thoughts, the battery had indeed leaked. It had been taken out already.
Miraculously, the logic board looked clean. Very little corrosion, no cap leakage either. The only corroded area is where the battery acid seeped down. Thankfully, the Q840av 's battery location is somewhat good, right at the bottom, so very few components are in its way.
Only the area around G7, RP62 and L32 looked affected, right in the path where the battery acid ran down.
Do you guys know what the function of these chips are? G7 appears to be a clock oscillator.
Ok, time to power it on…
A loud chime, that’s a good sign! Followed by a blinking question mark. Appears the stock 500 MB Seagate harddisk (Apple branded) was dead. Let’s see if the CD drive works. It did! It booted right up from a MacOS 8 CD. The UI seemed to feel a little more snappy than my Q650. Would that 7 Mhz really be that noticeable? The only 040s I've owned were 33 Mhz ones, which feel snappy with MacOS 7.6, but a bit sluggish on 8.1. I’m curious how it performs once the machine has been restored and set up. “About this computer” revealed a whopping 16 MB of RAM, although VRAM has been maxed out. Since all the NUBUS slot covers were present, I assume this Mac was totally stock.
My plan is to restore this Mac to its former glory, which is already in progress. Things I've done so far:
- A full teardown
- Clean the logic board, the case and the battery gunk and the rust
- Make a new bottom RF shield
- Ordered a new PRAM battery holder.
Future plans are:
- Replace HD and add extra RAM
- A recap (while the Mac is working now, I assume it's just a matter of time)
- Maybe a retrobright. Not decided yet. Since the machine is pretty much stock and doesn't have any personal stickers etc, I might as well go for it. Had good results restoring a G3 MT and an SE/30.
If people are interested, I can make a report about the restoration progress.
Regards,
Niels
